right now on "andrea mitchell reports" on the road again after republicans reject his opening bid, president obama hits the philadelphia suburbs campaigning hard for his plan to raise taxes on the rich. >> it's not acceptable to me and i don't think it's acceptable for you for a handful of members of congress to hold middle class tax cuts hostage because they don't want rates on upper incomes to go up. that doesn't make sense. >> the speaker was quick to respond. increasing tax rates draws money away from our economy that need to be invested in our economy to put the american people back to work. it's the wrong approach. we're willing to put revenues on

the table, closing loopholes and not raising rates. we think it's better for the economy, pure and simple. >> and just now, hitting the jackpot. the small town missouri couple who have had more than their share of hard times win the powerball and with the great american generous spirit are taking it in stride. >> our main concern is our family and, of course, and we have a very large family and then next is our charities we'll be giving to. yeah. it's like how much does a person need? >> and is this man who went to a maryland gas station the other big winner? he looked excited but there is no proof it's for real. while in new york, at the united nations a different kind of history is made. >> 138.

>> palestinians celebrate after the united nations general assembly votes overwhelmingly for nonmember status des price strong u.s. and israeli opposition, palestinian authority prime minister sa lem fay yesterday is here with us to react today. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. president obama took the show on road today. who are not impressed by the administration's opening budget officer. -- offer. joining me is kristen welker, and luke russert. first to you, the calculus in going to the suburbs of philadelphia, kristen, clearly he feels that the political play right now is better than the inside game that didn't work for him during the super committee negotiations, but can that backfire? >> right now the president feels as though he has a fair amount of leverage having won

re-election so he's trying to build momentum on the road. remember, this is a tactic that worked for him during the payroll tax cut fight when he went out, took his case to the american people, so he is doing it once again today in hatfield, pennsylvania, a suburb of philadelphia, speaking at a toymaker and making the case that toymaker would be harmed. consumer confidence begdwindled they would lose business if dungs fails to get a deal done and they would wind up spending less on christmas shopping, for example. this is a tactic that has been persuasive in the past. of course, the white house taking other measures as well. president obama reaching out to congressional leaders behind the scenes, meeting with them as well. they're launching this website, #my2k, encouraging people to go on and talk about what $2,000 would mean to them. that's the amount that would increase if, in fact, the country does go over the fiscal

cliff. the white house points out that they have actually gotten more hits on that #my2k than they got during the payroll tax cut fight when they launched a similar effort. so they feel as though this is a good way to put the pressure on congress. but having said all of that, andrea, this really remains in a deadlock. house speaker john boehner saying the situation is in a stalemate today. >> and luke russert, you covered the hill. you have a feel for what eric cantor and kevin mccarthy and the speaker is saying. is this just shadow boxing between the two sides of pennsylvania avenue or is this a serious stalemate with only ten legislative gas dais to go. >> we knew november would be for saber rattling and december would be where the deal would be put together. this is more significant than just your typical squirmish, shall we say, between both sides. john boehner saying, quote, right now we're almost nowhere. republicans were very much

offended that timothy geithner brought to them a deal some of them had seen about three weeks ago and they thought was absolutely ludicrous, saying this was not a good faith effort by the white house, that in fact it was a completely illogical approach when you have a conservative house republican consfrens. what i'm hearing more than anything is that house republican aides are saying look, we have had a pathway to get to a deal before. it was apparent in 2011. why won't the white house look more at the things we could agree on back then as a practical way forward. democrats are saying look, that was the summer of 2011. that is off the table now. we won the election we're going to do things our way. so until that issue is sort of figured out and until republicans move on entitlements, democrats saying okay, we're open to entitlement reform, you got to tell us what you want, there is going to be this stalemate in place. there has been this sort of sense of optimism among the chattering class in washington, that oh they're going to come together, the tax rates for the top 250 or above will dogo away.

from everything i'm hearing, they are ready to fight this all the way to the bitter end. democrats do not want to lose the bush tax rates for 250 or above from not going up. republicans want to hold their ground and believes the longer this goes, the better their negotiating position is, andrea. >> luke russert, stay tuned. thank you. and kristen welker. israel announced plans to build 3,000 new homes for settlements in key areas of east jerusalem and the west bank in what is viewed as retaliation as the palestinian's move for statehood at the united nations yesterday. the u.s. and canada were the only major countries opposing the application. >> today's grand pronouncements will soon fade ands the palestinian people will wake up tomorrow and find that little about their lives has changed. say that the prospects of a durable peace have only receded. >> and joining me now here is

the prime minister of the palestinian authority. mr. prime minister, thank you very much for being here. you you arrived as this was happening. is this a setback for the palestinians or is there real cause for celebration as we saw in ramallah and the rest of the west bank last night? >> the celebration has to be well understood and appreciated, actually given the length of time it took for us to get to the point where this is s issue. there's a great deal of powerful symbolism. >> it is symbolic. it's not statehood. >> it's highly significant symbolism. given on the day it happened, 65 years earlier, the same body, the general assembly at the united nations passed the partition plan on palestine which six upon later gave rise to the birth of israel. here we are as palestinians 65 years later still looking for a country we can call home. yes, it's symbolic but i believe it's highly significant and

powerful symbolism in that sense for sure. >> what about israel's move to build new houses or at least start the zoning for new housing in critical areas that would block the pathway from ramallah and bethlehem to jerusalem. >> unfortunately, that's been happening already. at an alarming pace. and quite damaging and undermining of the prospects of viability of two-state solution in the region. israel chose to make this announcement yesterday, seemingly as a response -- retaliatory response to that. i question the rationale for the need for retaliation against what we did. what's the advantage of an option -- let's take advantage of an option, the united nations, custodian of international law and legitimacy, everybody that gave the state of israel some 65

years ago, so i question projecting what israel does as retaliation and question that being acceptable to be honest with you as a basis for taking actions vee sa vi palestinians. it's something that needed to stop before this move by us and i see no justification whatsoever. the fact we did what we did does not and should not be reviewed as providing grounds for israel to do what they did with respect to the announcement you mentioned. >> senate democrats and republicans have joined already to freeze money that would otherwise be appropriated to you and the palestinians and you were the finance minister before you were the prime minister. you know exactly how critical this aid is. if the palestinians were to go to the international criminal court and seek legal redress against israel, can you promise the senate that the palestinian authority will not go to the icc? >> i think the most important thing to do and focus on is what to do with this having happened.

there's a lot of speculation as to what the palestinians were up to. a resolution was passed. with quite a confident majority, more than two-thirds of the membership of the united nations. i think the key lies in what happens afterwards. i mean it's important and highly significant but i think it's time to move on. it's time to move on. there's not much point in the palestinians sitting there admiring the creation for too long because there's still work to be done. if our people is going to be able to leave as free people and a genuine state, on the other hand those who are against this, israel, but others, of course, the united states [ inaudible ] and what she said yesterday, i think it's important to look beyond what happened and see how best to take advantage of it. >> let me ask you this, israel says we have no one to negotiate with because you and the

president, mahmoud abbas, don't have any control over gaza and hamas and since you are divided between the west bank and gaza, who represents the palestinian people? is there any chance now that hamas and the palestinian authority can come together and unify and present a united front in negotiations with israel? >> i believe that's really of utmost importance. relative to that, what we palestinians want to accomplish. will we be able to have that state fully independent where we can live as free people with dignity. without the unification, to be able to put our country back together, the institution of our people back together, it's not going to be possible for us to have that state. that's something that we want. now, of course, in that sense thereof there is a certain degree of truth to the presentation as long as the separation exists it's difficult to see it as meaningful. however the truth of the matter is the plo, when it entered into

agreements with israel, going back to 1993, it did so on behalf of all palestinian people. those who reside in the occupied territory in gaza as well as west bank, but also on palestinians. >> so you believe you still represent all? >> obviously. the plo and the [ inaudible ] are competent to negotiate for the palestinian people. i will be the if irs to admit as long as the separation persists it's not going to be possible for us to have that state. >> prime minister, thank you very much for joining us. >> pleasure. >> a historic day and week for the palestinian authority. and joining me is former u.s. ambassador to israel, vice president of foreign policy at brookings, coconvenienter of the forum on u.s./israel relations convening this week. thanks very much. what is the significance of what happened at the u.n.? a step forward, a step back or status quo? >> i guess a step sideways, out

of the normal channel for resolving the conflict peacefully, that is through negotiati negotiations, sideways to the united nations. it doesn't move the palestinians forward. it's a significant but symbolic act. and if it produces a kind of punitive, vicious circle in which the israelis now announce more settlement activity, the particularly strategic activity it seems to be, and then the palestinians decide to go to the international criminal court who would charge israel with some crimes and then we'll get into a downward spiral, the congress cuts the funds to the palestinian authority, we could be in very negative territory quite quickly and bear in mind that there's an election coming up in israel in which an outbidding process is likely to occur. already you have lieberman

calling for the toppling of abu mazen and unfortunately there isn't an actual negotiating process happening at the moment. there hasn't been for two years. and that means, you know, it's always difficult to stop something with nothing. and that's where we are at the moment. >> weill anything happen withou real u.s. leadership? there's been criticism this administration has not invested political capital in this? >> the president did invest a lot of political capital in this first two years, but it was to no avail. and i think that he then focused on getting re-elected and wanted to see if the parties themselves were willing to come forward instead of just exchanging accusations. i think that's where we're going to be. there's going to be an israeli election. nothing can happen before then. after that we'll have to see what kind of coalition is formed, who the prime minister will be, if it's a -- and if abu

mazen continues to demand no negotiations before there's a full settlement freeze, we'll be stuck. i suspect president obama will conclude nothing much can be achieved here and he'll go off to focus on his pivot to asia. but if in the wake of the elections both abu mazen and the newly elected prime minister of israel decide to come back to the table and try to resolve the conflict through negotiations, then i think we'll see president obama being an active and full partner. >> martin indyk, thank you very much. thanks for being with us today. and up next, republicans scoffing at the president's opening offer. how will they counter? republican congressman jason chav fit joins us. the wife of an american contractor jailed in cuba turns

up the heat in washington. we'll hear from judy gross ahead. >> alan relayed a message to me that i just found overwhelmingly sad. he said, you know, judy, i was sent here by the u.s. government and i feel like i've been dumped here and forgotten. made a commitment to the gulf. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger.

house republicans say they have a laundry list of problems with the president's opening bid and budget talks to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. utah congressman jason chafe fits joins me now. the president was campaigning today in campaign mode certainly and basically what the democrats and the white house are saying is this is what the american people voted for. all of the exit polls show that there is strong support, more than 60% of the voters, support

tax increases for the wealthy. so how do you counter that? >> well, the president also said he was for a balanced approach and what we haven't seen is what is the other side of that balance? the president said he was going to help curb back the debt and tackle this deficit. instead, the president has the gull to actually go out and suggest that we should get rid of the debt ceiling votes and take away congress' ability to help put a lid on that. essentially wants a limitless credit card. that is a nonstarter for us in the house of representatives and the president should share with us what he thinks he should be cutting. not just 10, 20 years out in advance, what are we going to cut in year one naepts wh. that's what i want to hear from the president. >> i want to talk about what you think needs to be more specific. let's talk about the debt ceiling for a second. the debt ceiling is not more money. it is raising the level to accommodate what congress has already appropriated. it's not an unlimited spending -- credit card.

most serious economists think that it's -- it is an unnecessary act. why not review the bidding on how the debt ceiling should be used. it's used as a shotgun to the head of either party, either president. >> look. there's got to be some limit to the debt we're putting forward in this country. i believe we should have that discussion. in the past it's driven the debate and the discussion about our out-of-control debt. we're paying more than $600 million a day in interest on our national debt. we deficit spend between $3 billion and $4 billion a day. now if the president wants to raise taxes on the wealthiest americans that's going to help hand al couple days, literally days, worth of our problem but how will we solve the overall thing. if we aren't going to tackle entitlements and not cut spending you will have trouble getting through the house of representatives because we're committed to those principles. we've got to tackle and make the difficult choices. >> what about his $400 billion in medicare?

is your problem with it that it's not specified? do you want to see a more specific laundry list or do you have to produce a laundry list before he's going to come up with his? is this a giant game of chicken. >> >> that's what's unfortunate. that's what i think the parties should be sitting at a table, speaker boehner is on the absolute right track, shown a willingness to be able to talk about things that we haven't been able to talk about before and they need to sit down and hash this out. there's nothing like a deadline to drive these types of decisions. i've said what should happen is it should be happening right now, what i think will happen is it will happen probably at the end of the year before the deadline. deadlines drive action. but yeah, i want to get to the specificity that we all need. >> congressman, thank you very much. thanks for joining us today. >> thanks, andrea. >> up next, we'll talk to judy gross, the wife of an american contractor jailed in cuba. why she's speaking out as she never has before. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.

maybe you want to incorporate a business. or protect your family with a will or living trust. and you'd like the help of an attorney. at legalzoom a legal plan attorney is available in most states with every personalized document to answer questions. get started at legalzoom.com today. and now you're protected.

get started at legalzoom.com today. sfx- "sounds of african drum and flute" look who's back. again? it's embarrassing it's embarrassing! we can see you carl. we can totally see you. come on you're better than this...all that prowling around. yeah, you're the king of the jungle. have you thought about going vegan carl? hahaha!! you know folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than antelope with night-vision goggles. nice! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. you'll also care about our new offer. you get access to nurses who can help with your questions. and your loved one can get exelon patch free for 30 days. if the doctor feels it's right for them. it cannot change how the disease progresses. hospitalization and rarely death

have been reported in patients who wore more than one patch at a time. the most common side effects of exelon patch are nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. the likelihood and severity of these side effects may increase as the dose increases. patients may experience loss of appetite or weight. patients who weigh less than 110 pounds may experience more side effects. people at risk for stomach ulcers who take certain other medicines should talk to their doctor because serious stomach problems such as bleeding may worsen. patients may experience slow heart rate. thirty days of exelon patch free for your loved one. access to trained nurses for you. call 1-855-999-1399 or visit exelonpatchoffer2.com.

monday will mark three years since u.s. government contractor alan gross was jailed in cuba, accused of breaking cuban laws against importing satellite technology. with talks at an impasse, alan gross' wife has sued the government and federal contractor accusing them of sending mr. gross on five covert trips to cuba without proper training, protection or knowledge of cuban law. joining me now is alan gross' wife judy. i know this has been -- i can't imagine how difficult this has been for you. the cuban government says clearly that your husband broke cuban laws. you have after three years filed suit against the federal government, against the contractor, and you lay out that your husband made five separate covert trips and was not briefed on what the laws involving importing satellite technology to kau ba are. explain this to me. >> let me say one word before i do that, because unfortunately i

just found out today that alan's mother's cancer is not -- no longer under control and he just learned that. i spoke to him. so -- >> spoke to him today? >> yes. >> his mother is 90 years old? >> she'll be 91 and -- any way he can get the word out, he's begging, asking to please, humanitarian gesture, let him visit her. >> okay. now you have up until now, not taken these steps, not laid out what was going on in cuba that led to his arrest. tell me why -- first of all, what was his project? what was he doing that the cubans say violated their laws and caused him to be arrested? >> alan was providing internet access and intranet access to the three small jewish communities on the island. nothing more, nothing less. they don't have telephones, they

don't have cars, most of them. they have no way to communicate amongst each other and this was helping them because alan was distributing one to each community a laptop. >> you say in the lawsuit is that he warned washington that they were informants, that this was dangerous and that they should probably suspend this program? >> andrea, that was probably after his third or fourth trip. he started to feel that, perhaps, he was being followed. he immediately wrote in his trip report that he was beginning to feel that this wasn't safe. please tell me what to do. send instructions. and the response back to him unfortunately was if you don't want to do this project, then let us know, find somebody else and we'll continue on. nothing about oh, we'll help you or nothing about do this so you're secure or do that.

it was basically we want to continue to keep this contract and make a profit. >> and so they, according to your lawsuit, the state department did not give him the right protection, did not give him legal advice, did not tell him what cuban laws applied to this technology, and did not properly protect him from what then happened, which was he was arrested, convicted and sent to jail. >> alan has worked in over 50 countries. he's pretty savvy about where he should go and where he shouldn't. he has turned down contracts in places that he thought was too dangerous. and he had none of those concerns about this. >> share with you also a letter that the cuban intersection here has sent, the head of the intersection their top diplomat to senators who protested about your husband's imprisonment. to demand from and hope the

cuban government to take the decision of releasing mr. gross without giving any consideration whatsoever to the legitimate concerns of our country is no the a realistic approach. do you think that the u.s. should now consider some sort of trade? there are five americans -- well five cubans rather in american prisons, one has been released on humanitarian grounds but there are cubans in american prisons who were convicted on various charges, should they now be, you know, considered? some kind of -- in some kind of an exchange for your husband? >> em i'm not an expert in the cuban five. alan doesn't like to be compared because he's not a spy. i will emphasize now that the elections are over, it is time for president obama and the white house to get alan home. no matter how they have to do it, no matter who they have to do it with, it could take several -- not to give up. they have to find the right

people to get together and negotiate. what they negotiate, it's fine with me. they just need to bring alan home and we're really advocating strongly president obama get himself involved in this to get him home. >> judy gross, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> and who's going to blink first in the fiscal cliff negotiations? our friday political package up next. first, the first dog is getting into the holiday spirit. the white house released video of bo making an inspection of this year's holiday decoration while the toy rep ply caf -- replica of boy stopped him in his tracks. ride to mouth fun-town. but it's not like everyone is going to break into a karaoke jam session. ♪ this will literally probably never happen. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again. medicare open enrollment. time to compare plans and costs. you don't have to make changes.

but it never hurts to see if you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. ♪ open enrollment ends december 7th. so now's the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare. to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha!

♪ when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. and topping the headlines on "andrea mitchell reports" three train cars derailed and toppled into a creak in southern new jersey causing a chemical leak. the video shows the train trestle collapsed, the same bridge collapsed three years ago, the tankers are leaking vinyl chloride. 18 people treated for difficulty

breathing. residents in three towns have been told to stay inside. a missouri businessman spreading christmas cheer. handing out $100 bills to people suffering from super storm sandy, calling himself a secret santa. the businessman plans to give out $100,000 in new york and new jersey. god bless him. and nypd police officer hair re deprimo is getting a lot of attention for all good reasons for buying a homeless man a pair of boots. he was on the "today" show this morning. >> the two things that stick out in my mind that night, how cold it was and this was the most polite gentleman i had met and i had to help him. >> after another week of budget negotiations, the message to the nation seems to be we are stuck at square one and that is one of the problems for the obama administration. joining me here in the studio is mark landher white house correspondent for "the new york times." margaret carlson for the bloomberg view and national

correspondent chris. thank you very much for being with us. we could use officer deprimo to solve some of the budget problems, christmas spirit and the powerball couple from missouri, amazing couple who one was laid off, the other just finally got a job and now they've got more than $200 million. >> yeah. >> before taxes. >> the cheerful part of the news. >> emphasize that. >> let's move to the other part. >> margaret, for the uncheerful part of the news. >> thank you. >> loot is shadow boxing, but there is an undercurrent of both sides playing chicken and the markets are sitting there and at any moment could decide hey, this deal is not going to get done and give us a lump of coal. >> when you get the drop in the dow jones average it will focus attention the way the fiscal cliff is not focusing attention. the report that mitch mcconnell laughed yesterday when timothy geithner presented the white house position, this is the mitch mcconnell who said we're going to -- my main goal is to defeat the president, not give him a second term. >> how is that working?

>> senator mcconnell, second term is here, things have changed, and the obama -- the last term where he was reaching out offering to negotiate from the middle, is gone. you know, he's going to put out there what he wants because he won and there is not a chance of defeating him now. at least in an election. and i don't think on this issue. on the issue of middle class tax cuts republicans want to go forward saying we raised taxes on the middle class. >> but chris, doesn't the white house have to be a little more specific about what's in that $400 billion of medicare cuts? i mean they're trying to smoke out what the republicans are willing to go for, but each side is suspicious, understandably, they will get hammered publicly. >> that's right. and the democrats on the hill and in the white house will tell you, that we don't want to be the face of tax increases and of entitlement cuts. so, they're saying we have a budget here, $400 billion worth of cuts we can start there. if you have a better idea, show

it to us. both sides are very, very weary because they understand showing their hand and the ads that would be run if john boehner would say we want these cuts, raise the entitlement age on medicare and hurt granny and grandpa. that's a big problem for republicans and the white house has come out and been the most specific so far. that plan that geithner took to the hill is the most specificity we've seen from either leader and the republicans have not said here are the loopholes that we think we could close, here's the hard cap we could put on there. there is a feeling now where does the republicans in congress go just a few minutes ago, the speaker said, we're at a stalemate. and there is a sense and democrats feel like 30 days out, nobody's going to show their hand, chuck schumer yesterday said hey, we understand republicans aren't going to love this, but democrats like to tell you on the hill, that the elections have consequences in

2010 they were forced into a trillion dollars worth of cuts through the super committee and they feel like they won this go around and you're going to have to work with us on taxes. >> mark, the last thing the president needs while he's trying to negotiate all of this is a controversy with the hill with senate republicans over susan rice. he's trying to craft this foreign policy team, they want to announce several of them at a time next week. that may not happen if they can't resolve -- is he going to proceed with susan rice? >> my sense is he wants to. he's always long wanted to and i think he remains behind her, but, you know, i have to say for her, probably going back to the u.n. yesterday and being part of the vote on the palestinian motion for enhanced status was the best part of her week. >> which was a scathing rebuke what "the new york times" called it. >> giving on the hill where she has to feel that was close to a d disastor to her. not so much the first three

senators she met the opposition was known, but susan collins, a moderate, come out and express deep reservations she has a tough hill to climb and what you're beginning to see for her is a series of almost daily revelations, whether it's investments that she and her husband have in companies that have done business with iran, investments in canadian energy companies connected to the keystone pipeline, i mean what we're seeing is basically has all the hallmarks of a tough confirmation battle before her name has been put into nomination. she's effectively fighting this daily drip of revelations and research that's being dug up about her as she tries to get herself on an even keel not knowing whether the president will put her name in. it's a tough situation. >> when you look at this also, there are other things in play, they're thinking about recognizing the syrian opposition, bilateral talks to

try to test the resolve of the ayatollah and see if they can negotiate something with iran. a lot of foreign impediments to this domestic agenda. >> no question. and i think hillary clinton is saying she's willing to stick around for a while longer just to see a successor confirmed. i wonder whether she's going to have to make good on that pledge. this hey have to drag out longer than the white house had planned. >> we have to leave it there. mark, margaret and chris, thanks so much. up next, a new strategy for the fight against autism. we'll talk to bob wright. >> it's time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. christine wants you to shop small. the owner of wonder works, a charleston, south carolina, based toy store believes in cooperation instead of competition. she has a section dedicated to locally made products to make sure her customers' dollars stay local. for more watch your business

sunday morning 7:30 on msnbc. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. if you're eligible for medicare, you might know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help pay some of the difference. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral to see a specialist.

so don't wait. call now to request a free decision guide to help you understand medicare. and which aarp medicare supplement plan might work best for you. there's a range to choose from, depending on your needs and your budget. and they all travel with you -- anywhere in the country. best of all, you'll be joining the millions who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. ♪ remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you'll be able to choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. and you never need referrals. so call now to request a free decision guide and learn more. after all, when you're going the distance, it's nice to have the experience and commitment to go along with you. keep dreaming. keep doing. go long.

>> what we need is a national strategic plan. there are many government agencies doing a lot of good things but not necessarily together. the money is significant but isn't necessarily spent in as thoughtful a way as possible. >> that was bob wright, co-founder along with susan wright of autism speaks, former

nbc universal chairman testifying before the house oversight committee yesterday. he challenged congress to coordinate federal activity and face the increasing prevalence of autism in the united states according to the cdc. the develop mental disorder affects one in 88 american children. there are some numbers more alarming. thanks so much for drawing attention to this and everything you and susan have done. one thing that you said yesterday is that this is now an epidemic. tell me what your concerns are and what you believe. >> the numbers have increased so dramatically. a thousand percent in the last ten years. the official numbers in the u.s. are one in 88. we finished a thorough study in korea and the number is one in 37, one in 24 boys. so this is probably the right number. we're going to brings this type of process to the united states. it's the mythology, methodology is much better. this is a national crisis and there's no sense of urgency. there's no sense of setting goals.

there's no sense of getting milestones, time lines, and not a lot of passion. all those things i'm used to in my previous life. i have to get those resurrected for this. >> bob, you've talked about what you can do in the private sector and you have been enormously generous and creative in raising this money. what does the government need to do? what kind of threshold do you want to see from the federal government? >> well, as i said, the name of the investigation yesterday should have been called who's in charge here, because that's exactly the way it went. we need to fund basic science, keep it going, doing it in a smart way. we have to connect the cdc, nih, health and human services, the fda, all those organizations have to be better connected. we have to bring services and research together. we need diagnosis should be achieved at 18 months now and we have five years in many places and minorities are diagnosed later than all. they don't seem to have the right access. we need to develop better

treatments and translate research into medicine. we need to alleviate discrepancies in services. i'll give you an example, andrea, 32 states have autism insurance, 75% of the nation. they represent half of the employees. the other half are in large companies. the congress has to act and make those large companies do exactly the same thing that the small companies are doing in 75% of the country. and lastly, we need to look at the needs for adults. it's, you know, we have a tsunami of children getting to the age of 22 and you lose all your benefits at that point. there's education, housing. there's employment. there's integration in the community. all of that has to be addressed and we talked a lot about it. you know, it's -- we talked about 170 -- $137 billion a year as the estimate of what the u.s. cost is for autism. almost all of that is born by parents. that's essentially $60,000 a

family. that's currently born by them. we have raised a lot of money, there's no question, we have a tremendous amount of supporters, families with autism, friends, and we have sponsors like toys r us, a major sponsor, but that isn't enough. we can't do this all alone. we need a plan, a national plan, we can fit the government activities in with those of us on the private side that are doing our part and i think that's what it's going to take to deal with this in the years to come. it's getting heavier to lift. >> well, it seems like there is an alphabet soup of federal agencies and a crazy quilt patchwork quilt of regulations and you sense any effort by congress or the administration to put one agency in charge? >> it's very difficult for congress to do that, but it has to get done. a lot is the will to do it. you need to have a plan and you need to have the will to execute it. i think all things are possible.

but it's been difficult. once an agency gets an assignment if it keeps that assignment it doesn't share, doesn't want to release it, doesn't want to give up anything. we see the cdc with a $20 million budget for basically science and vaccines which is all vaccines which is hard to believe and the work they do on research on autism is so modest. but they're in charge of that. and most of the money goes to the nih. but the nih doesn't do prevalence, doesn't do services, doesn't do a lot of things. so yes, and the fda is really not involved. they're involved in vaccines at the early stages but then they turn it over to the cdc. there's a whole web of activities. you know, this particular oversight committee, which you know is not generally a place people want to be, the heavy investigative committee of congress, and the chairman issa was very frank about it and the ranking member mr. cummings was very frank about saying we're going to come back to this. we just got into this.

we're a little surprised here and we want to see why can't people be in charge? who is in charge of this. and why can't that happen. so i'm optimistic that this is a particular committee that we've not appeared in front of before, but they may be the key to unlock ing to everyone's attention and thanks to you and suzanne for everything you're doing. we'll talk to you soon i hope. up next, a special edition of the next 24. think red. just take a look at the crane and the bow behind me on the north pori port icht co of the house. unions, and peppers baked in a ketchup glaze with savory gravy and mashed russet potatoes. what makes stouffer's meatloaf best of all? that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. let's fix dinner.

starts with arthritis pain and a choice.

take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news.

in our next 24, tomorrow is world aids day. michael elliott. well, what are you trying to accomplish, what is the focus

this year on world aids day? >> big shot behind you. >> we've been watching this throughout the hour. >> absolutely extraordinary. i think the community that really cares about hiv/aid has a number of messages. secretary clinton gave a major speech yesterday. secondly, we are saying we've done extraordinary things in the last ten years. almost unbelievable things in fighting the disease in this country and around the world, but if we're really going to do what we've said we can do, which is to create aids-free generation, we need to redouble our efforts. there are areas in which we're falling behind. very good on treatment. pretty good on eradicating mother to child transmission, but still way too many people being infected around the world. >> and where are we falling

behind? >> there's a funding gap. we estimate that the amount of funding worldwide that's really needed to fight all aspects of the pandemic is something around 6 billion. we just have done a report which indicates which countries are doing really well and which the are not too well. the united states has always shown leadership and generosity on the fight. britain, france and others doing very well, too. others not so much. >> so you need 6 billion compared to what is being spent now? >> oh, gosh, i couldn't tell you. but to meet all the unmet need in terms of making sure that we get to 50 million people on treatment, that we met much eradicate mother to child transmission, and that we reduce the number of new infections will take an awful lot of work. but one of the great things and here is that more and more people are engaged in this

fight. we've put together through our organization, red, this absolutely fantastic cd that was electronic dance music. curated by the deejay tiesto. and every should download it. money goes to the global fund and helps save lives. >> michael elliott, great to see you. thank you very much. and that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. craig melvin has a look at what's next. >> thanks so much. in our next hour, president obama takes his fiscal cliff campaign to pennsylvania. the president says allowing taxes to rise on the middle class would be, quote, scrooge christmas for millions of americans. plus we're following developing news from the supreme court. waiting to hear if the high court decides to take up several new challenges to same-sex marriage. a live report on that coming up next on news nation. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year.

in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ is a thrilling, dual-flavored ride to mouth fun-town. but it's not like everyone is going to break into a karaoke jam session. ♪ this will literally probably never happen.

with his wife, danielle, almost every weekend. derrell hasn't been able to visit his mom back east in a long time. [ shirley ] things are sometimes a little tight around the house. i wasn't able to go to the wedding. [ emily jo ] since derrell couldn't get home, we decided to bring home to him and then just gave him a little bit of help finding his way. ♪ [ laughs ] [ applause ] i love you. i love you, too.

♪ don't know what i'd do ♪ i'd have nothing to prove ♪ i'd have nothing to lose [ male announcer ] zales is the diamond store. take up to an extra 15 percent off storewide, now through wednesday. why use temporary treatments when you can prevent the acid that's causing it with prevacid24hr. with one pill prevacid24hr works at the source to prevent the acid that causes frequent heartburn all day and all night. and with new prevacid24hr perks, you can earn rewards from dinner deals to music downloads for purchasing prevacid24hr. prevent acid all day and all night for 24 hours with prevacid24hr.